Flesh and Wire
by TMJones
Summary: Year: 2204. Xehanort is a newly employed engineer at ARC, working under Ansem on the most advanced android technology--but ARC isn't the only group that wants it. Xemnas has his own ideas for the prototype 'Miku'--and they aren't pretty.
1. The Perfect Singer

A/N: So yeah. I already have two projects that I'm working on right now; a multi-chapter AkuRoku fic, and a YuGiOh/KH crossover fic. So why start something else?

Because it _won't leave me alone_.

Mind you I've never written sci-fi either, so this is really out of my normal subject matter. But this...weird brainchild of mine just came to me a couple months ago, and I just can't get it out of my head.

So here we go. Enjoy!

Chapter one: The Perfect Singer

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Meyers?"

"Yes, Xehanort. Have a seat, please."

Xehanort cautiously eased himself into the expensive black chair in front of his new boss' desk. He had never actually seen the man before, but his supervisor had said it was only a matter of time. He had also said, though, that this would probably be the only time he'd see the CEO of the American Robotics Company (ARC) in person.

He was a tall man, with wide shoulders and a fit physique, reminding Xehanort of a retired football player. He was completely bald. Clear blue eyes stared at Xehanort as he sat, framed by strong features and bushy dark-blond eyebrows.

He was wearing a very nice suit, Xehanort noticed. Xehanort only knew this because he'd had to buy all new things for the dress code here, and so had given himself a crash course in what business-wear actually entailed. This was his first job out of engineering school, where Xehanort had managed to complete his PhD with one nice suit in the back of his closet that never saw the light of day. Now that he was at one of the largest companies in the country, he had to look formal every day. He smoothed his new slacks self-consciously, wishing he was back in his old, broken-in jeans; he swore he thought better in those...

"I take it you've heard my reputation as being distant," Mr. Meyers said.

Xehanort gave a vague nod.

"I've heard it mentioned."

"It's true. I share the same fate all company leaders do; we never get to put an employee's face to a name—if we even ever see the name to begin with."

Xehanort nodded, a little lost. He'd gotten used to the feeling, and hoped it would soon pass—after all, he'd only been here a week...

"However _you_," Mr. Meyers said, pointing to Xehanort, "are an engineer. A very highly trained engineer. I'm sure you know how hard it is to obtain such a degree under your specific discipline. You have power that others do not."

Xehanort blinked, still lost.

"...I'm not sure I know what you mean."

"Then I'll put it more clearly," Mr. Meyers said, his tone almost sounding kind. He clasped his hands and leaned forward on his elbows, bringing himself closer to Xehanort.

"You are an engineer, trained in the art of artificial intelligence, with an interest in android intelligence development. Am I correct?"

Xehanort nodded again. He felt a bit stupid doing it, but he really couldn't think of what else he should be doing at the moment.

"How many other engineers share this background?"

"...Um—"

"Very few," Mr. Meyers finished.

"Oh."

"That means you have the ability to join any company you wish, and personally have the power to put that company on the cutting edge of technology as we know it now."

Xehanort's eyes widened, as he understood.

"Oh," he said, feeling faintly aware that his stomach was turning itself inside out. Could he really have that much influence over an entire _company_...?

"Yes," Mr. Meyers said, "Oh."

He leaned back, causing his chair to creak a little.

"I had Ansem hire you because because you were young, Xehanort. All of your studies are still fresh on your mind, and you can call them easily from memory. You were a good fit for the engineering research team. You are a hard worker, and some call you a genius based on your current accomplishments alone. We're going to need that for our next step."

Xehanort's attention honed in on the last sentence; he had heard Ansem say something about a 'next step', but he hadn't gone into detail...

"What's the next step?"

Mr. Meyers smiled. It didn't seem very warm at all.

"I knew you'd ask."

He pulled a drawer next to him open, and took a gray box out of it. He laid it on the desk.

"Take a look," he said.

Xehanort carefully pulled the box towards him, as it looked very old. Large, gray letters were printed across the top, in a font that looked like it hadn't been used in centuries.

"Vocaloid?" he read aloud.

"It's a program that was created around the turn of the millennium," Mr. Meyers said, "a music program."

"What did it do?" Xehanort asked, eying the cartoon figure on the front cover.

"It gave the user the ability to create songs, using sound libraries. While that in and of itself isn't very revolutionary, this program added another component—a voice."

"An artificial voice?"

"Yes," Mr. Meyers said, "it was the first successful program of its kind to present an artificial voice the user could manipulate to use whatever words they wanted, in whatever sequence they wished."

"So it created sound sequences using Predicted Sound Completion?"

"Even more basic than PSC," Mr. Meyers said, "it was a prerecorded library, created from a human speaking individual sounds that the program then could put together, based on the input sequence. The idea was to create a voice that had no flaws—a perfect singer."

"I see," Xehanort said. He looked at the box again. "Who's on the front?"

"The character created to go with the voice," Mr. Meyers said, "You're looking at the first character for the second release of the program, paired with the first library that was made for that series."

"Oh."

"It was a hit during its time," Mr. Meyers continued, "especially in Japan, where it was created. Other programs like it came along, with better voice manipulation. A pioneer named Diz, somewhere around 2150, used this technology to create the first full-featured speaking android. I'm sure you know about that."

"Yes," Xehanort said, "I remember him from intro classes, in my first years of college."

Mr. Meyers picked up the box.

"The program itself was forgotten over the years," he said, placing it back in his drawer, "Until it was rediscovered in a time capsule recently, made by the program's creator. He instructed his family not to open it until January of this year; for reasons unknown, he wanted it opened exactly 200 years after the first library was released."

"So it was released in...2004, then?"

"Yes," Mr. Meyers said.

"Wow," Xehanort said, "I think I remember hearing about that actually..."

"It was all over the news," Mr. Meyers agreed, "but there was something that was _kept_ from the news. And that reason is why you're sitting in this office right now."

Xehanort sat quietly, waiting for his boss to explain.

"Another company called Cerion, which I'm sure you're familiar with, took on the project of bringing back Vocaloid, as a tribute—a version in which the program effectively takes on a life of its own."

"They've created an android," Xehanort translated.

Mr. Meyers smiled.

"And they've agreed to show it to us. The girl on the front of that box is now a fully functional android, capable of 98% of human processes."

Xehanort's eyes widened.

"98 _percent_?"

Mr. Meyers nodded.

"As you can imagine, she's quite revolutionary. They say she has no flaws. She is a songwriter for the most part, as that was what the original program allowed the user to do. They claim to have created the perfect singer, once again."

"Wow..."

For the first time since receiving the news he had gotten this job, Xehanort was more excited than he was nervous.

"Are they bringing her here?" he asked, without thinking, "Will we be able to see her?"

"Yes," Mr. Meyers said, smiling again, at Xehanort's excitement, "She's flying over the Pacific as we speak. Ansem's team will be doing most of the interviewing and data collection. We're hosting her for a month, before she tours in public here in the U.S. They want to release a version of her here, and have asked us to partner with them on the effort."

"That's—that's amazing!"

"I want you to be in charge of data collection. I would like to make you feel welcome here."

"Awesome! Thank you, Mr. Meyers!"

"Welcome to ARC, Xehanort."

"Thank you!" Xehanort exclaimed, hopping out of his chair, "I'll do my best!"

"Good to hear," Mr. Meyers said. "Now go tell Ansem. If he has any questions, tell him to come to me."

"Okay!"

Xehanort left, only dimly aware of how much like an excited child he was acting at the moment. He ran down the long hall leading to the CEO's office, and hurriedly punched the down arrow on the elevator, itching to get back to his desk—he was already coming up with a timetable in his head, and he needed to write it down...

* * *

Ansem sighed, when he heard the news.

"I figured as much," he said, setting his tea down on his own desk. "You already have a reputation preceding you, you know—"

"What model base is she?"

Ansem raised his eyebrows.

"Oh!" Xehanort exclaimed, putting his hand over his mouth, "Sorry. I interrupted you."

Ansem laughed, and shook his head.

"For good reason, apparently—you're certainly focused..."

"Huh?" Xehanort asked, lost again. He really should pay more attention...

"Never mind. You want to know what model base she is?"

"Yes!" Xehanort said, "I need to figure out how we're going to approach analyzing her functionality, her intelligence format, R to R ratio—"

"R to R?" Ansem asked.

"Rib to Rind ratio. The circuitry."

"Oh," Ansem said, "Yes, wire ribbing and width. I must have missed that acronym. I don't know her base model off the top of my head," Ansem said, "But I would learn fast. You've got a lot of reading to do before Wednesday."

"But—she's on a flight over here right now."

"Oh, really? That means she'll be here tomorrow, then."

"Yeah."

"....I suggest you start reading her model, then," Ansem said calmly, looking at his watch, "You've got less than 24 hours to know her enough to collect data on her. One false move and you ruin a possible billion-dollar company production deal."

Xehanort stared at his supervisor, feeling distinctly weak at the knees.

Ansem merely sipped his tea again. He swallowed.

"Well, I doubt it's just a billion, actually...she's the beta model, so she's one of a kind..."

"Um—"

"Yes?" Ansem asked, looking to Xehanort again. He smiled.

"Permission to leave work early? I've got some serious cramming to do..."

Ansem laughed again.

"You don't need to ask me if you can leave, Xehanort; just tell me when you are."

"Okay!"

"Be sure to get sleep, though."

Xehanort had already grabbed the cup of coffee he'd abandoned on his desk when he had been called to the CEO's office, and was now chugging it.

"What are you doing?"

Xehanort slammed the cup down again. After letting out his breath, he said,  
"That's for the ride home."

"...Oh. Have a good evening, then."

"Will do!" Xehanort called over his shoulder. A few seconds later he had yanked on his coat, put his hand on the door's palm-activated locking system, and had scurried out of the barely open doors.

Ansem listened to his footsteps receding down the hallway, and shook his head again.

"One of the good things about being a supervisor," he said aloud, to no one in particular, "Is that someone else does all the hard work."

He took another sip of tea.

* * *

"Hey! Xehanort!"

Xehanort nearly tripped over his own feet as he skittered to a stop, twirled around and ending up standing in a slightly bow-legged position.

"Yes?"

A taller, blond woman with severe eyes and horn-rimmed glasses to match peered at him from a doorway—the doorway to the engineering lab.

"You're the head of data collection for the japanese android?"

Xehanort straightened himself, almost stumbling again in the process.

"U—um—yeah! That's what Mr. Meyers told me."

Thin yellow-blond eyebrows rose over the glasses.

"He told you that _today?_"

"Yeah," Xehanort said, "I need to read up on the model, that's why I'm leaving early."

"You realize that takes a couple days at least, right? What if you need to get something from the archives?"

"...Um—"

"We've got some literature pulled up here already. It'd be worth your while to look through it."

"—Thank you!"

"You're welcome," she said flatly, holding the door open as Xehanort passed through.

He'd only been in the engineering lab during orientation, as he had nothing he needed to do in there yet; the past week had been getting paperwork in order. ARC was a complicated place, when it came to authorization—and Xehanort had thought universities had a lot of bureaucracy...

"Over there," she said, pointing to a bookshelf next to the row of desks on the left wall.

"Thank you, um—"

"Arlene."

"Yes. Thank you, Arelene."

Arelene simply turned, and went back to work. Xehanort scanned the book titles, and found that everything he needed was here. But where to start—?

"Move."

Xehanort jumped; suddenly a short man with long, black hair was standing next to him, looking up at Xehanort through rectangular glasses.

"You're in front of my desk."

"Oh!" Xehanort hopped aside, "Sorry, um—"

"Ienzo," he said, setting down the papers he was holding, "I would say it was a weird name, but yours is stranger."

He flashed Xehanort a friendly smile.

"Yeah," Xehanort smiled back, "No one pronounces it right the first time."

Ienzo glanced at the books on the shelf.

"You probably want this one to start with," he said, yanking a volume off the shelf and handing it to Xehanort.

"Yeah," Xehanort said, glancing at the title, "Thanks."

Ienzo sat down.

"Good luck."

Xehanort didn't hear him, though; he had already flipped to the section he'd wanted, and was scanning through the pages at lightning speed...

* * *

"Eight!"

"What?"

"Get over here!"

"I'm eating!"

"You don't _need_ to eat, idiot!"

"It tastes better than batteries," Eight shot back from the kitchen."You should try it sometime!"

"Will you just get over here? This is serious!"

"Yeah, this is kind of interesting."

"It's from boss, Axel, you'd better get over here."

Axel let his pizza crust fall onto his plate.

"Fine," he grumbled. He walked out into the living room, where the rest of them were crowded around an old television set.

"What's going on?"

"It's an internet capture," Zexion said, "The message says he got it from an ally."

"He gets everything from an 'ally'," Vexen said, arms crossed. "We all know what that means."

"One of his minions," Roxas translated.

"Whoa, you talked," Axel said. Roxas didn't respond.

"It's starting!" Demyx said, leaning forward on the couch. All twelve of them fell silent, as they stared at the screen before them. It flickered, showed some static—and then a room showed up on the screen.

Axel let out a low whistle.

"Fancy pad," he said. The room was large, with one wall comprised entirely of glass. A sunny day shone through the tinted windows, clear of clouds.

Inside, the furniture was expensive-looking; a desk and two chairs were visible from the security camera in the corner.

"It looks like an office," Demyx observed.

"Sssh," Lexaeus said, putting his finger to his lips. Everyone hushed again; someone had started talking on the video.

"_Vocaloid?" _the guy facing the camera asked. He was looking at a box on the desk.

"_It's a program that was created around the turn of the century,"_ another voice said, from the seat whose back was facing the camera, _"a music program."_

"_What did it do?"_

"_It gave the user the ability to create songs, using sound libraries. While that in and of itself isn't very revolutionary, this program added another component—a voice."_

"_An artificial voice?"_

"_Yes. It was the first of its kind..."_

They all listened intently, committing the video to memory; even though nothing was said, they all knew that their leader, Xemnas, was planning something for all of them. Axel turned his auto-record on and stopped listening; he could come back to it later. In the meantime, he started to analyze that pizza he'd just eaten...the pepperoni wasn't breaking down right in his stomach, for some reason...

"_They've created an android."_

Axel's attention snapped back to the TV

"_And they've agreed to show it to us. The girl on the front of that box is now a fully functional android, capable of 98% of human processes."_

"_98 percent?"_

"_As you can imagine, she's quite revolutionary. They say she has no flaws. She is a songwriter for the most part, as that was what the original program allowed the user to do. They claim to have created the perfect singer, once again."_

"_Wow..."_

"Perfect _what_?" Axel asked.

"Ssh!" Saix snapped.

"_Are they bringing her here? Will we be able to see her?"_

What a nerd, Axel thought; that guy was way too excited about this...

"_Yes," _the formless voice said, _"She's flying over the Pacific as we speak. Ansem's team will be doing most of the interviewing and data collection. We're hosting her for a month, before she tours in public here in the U.S. They want to release a version of her here, and have asked us to partner with them on the effort—"_

The voice was cut off, and the video paused. Another voice blared out of the TV, louder than the other two.

"Zexion. Axel. Come see me as soon as you see this."

The screen went blank.

"...Whoa," Demyx said, breaking the silence, "A perfect android!"

"An entertainment android," Vexen said, with obvious distaste, "It's probably not even worth anything _useful_."

"Still," Saix said, "I can see why Xemnas showed us this. If she really is an advanced android, he might be able to learn something from her, just like ARC is doing. It's a challenge to him."

"You'd better go," Lexaeus said. He looked up at Axel from his seat in the middle of the couch, and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

Axel was bent over, clutching his middle.

"Something's not digesting, and it's triggering my reflux mechanism!"

"Don't fight it, you'll break something," Roxas said dryly.

"Do you have meat enzymes?"

"What?" Axel asked, managing to give Zexion a strange look.

"If you don't have meat enzymes, the meat doesn't break down. It's animal muscle—it's completely different from plant matter."

"You've got to have special enzymes for that?!"

Marluxia let out a sigh.

"Going by the theory that one makes improvements every time they create something, you're supposed to be more advanced than six of us, as you are the seventh android built by Xemnas" he said. "I fail to see this."

"I'm a good fighter?" Axel offered.

"Go puke," Roxas said, "You're making me want to throw up just by looking at you."

Axel didn't need any more convincing; he ran to the sink and promptly spit out a pile of half-digested pieces of pepperoni.

"Yuck..."

"Come on," Zexion said, walking to Axel's side, "we're supposed to go see him."

Axel grabbed his empty glass, filled it with tap water, and drank about half of it before setting the glass back down on the counter.

"_Damn_, stomach acid is nasty..."

"Yes," Zexion said blandly, "Which is why most of us just don't bother eating. Even if it does feel good."

Axel wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and followed Zexion out into the hallway. Now that the meat was gone, the rest of it was getting digested just fine...

"Stupid animal muscle..."

* * *

The door automatically opened, revealing a white room with no furnishings except the single white chair and desk in the very center.

"You're late," Xemnas said.

"Axel ate meat," Zexion said.

"How was I supposed to know you needed special enzymes to digest pepperoni?! And who ordered that, anyway? What was it doing in the fridge?"

Xemnas didn't respond to that.

"I have a mission for you," he said.

"Are we getting information on this android, or stealing the information the company gets?" Axel asked.

Xemnas slowly smiled, giving him the appearance of a cat who had found its prey.

"We are obtaining the android itself," he said, "I want to do very, _very _careful analysis of it, from the inside out. You will be given directions to the headquarters, which you just saw on the screen. Get in, get the android, and get out again. If you are caught...it'll be the last thing you do."

Axel and Zexion nodded; they had seen what forcibly destroying an android as advanced as they were against their will entailed. It wasn't a good way to go.

"Use stealth," Xemnas said, pointing his sharp glare at Zexion and Axel in turn, "that's all I need to tell you."

He picked up a pair of thing black cards, which were about as large as the tip of a finger.

"Everything is in here," he said.

Zexion stepped forward, and took the disks from Xemnas. He handed one to Axel. Axel eyed the card once he had taken it, examining the fine print on the edge.

"These are new," he commented.

"They have more memory on them," Zexion said; he'd already put it into the reader they all had installed at the base of their heads.

Axel shrugged and lifted his hair, shoving the card into his own head—if he were human, the media reader was where his cerebellum would be.

After the card was securely in its port, Axel immediately knew everything there was to know about ARC; the card held information about how the building was built, general maps, current door codes hacked from the security system, how to gain access to the security cameras via internet, the city around it, and back stories for their fake identities.

"We're posing as humans," Zexion stated.

"Yes," Xemnas replied, "Learn through observation what you don't already know."

"Never done that before," Axel said, "This should be fun."

"Whatever your definition of 'fun' is, I don't like it," Zexion said.

Xemnas smirked.

"Leave immediately," he said. "Time is crucial."

"Yes, sir," they said simultaneously.

The door opened behind them again, and they left the room, Xemnas' piercing orange eyes on their retreating backs.

* * *

"We're flying to California. The old-fashioned way. You're supposed to be a security worker looking for a job."

"I have the card too, you know," Axel griped.

"I was just making sure you'd scanned the files," Zexion stated, "You're lazy like that."

They were standing just inside the entrance of the airport, full of frantic humans with personal robots in tow. Axel looked at their own personal robot; a squat old box of a thing, currently keeping their luggage on its carrying tray.  
"B1050 here looks like he's about to break."

"We needed something cheap and stupid enough that it wouldn't recognize us as non-human," Zexion explained. "It's probably over 40 years old..."

B1050 let out a sudden warble.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Axel asked.

"I really don't know," Zexion said dryly. He looked at the papers they had printed out of their flight and seat numbers—just to add to the human appearance. Now that Axel was looking around, though, he saw that a lot of humans weren't using paper anymore to keep notes of things; most of them had little gadgets attached to their ears, or hovering around their head, or something.

"We need to check our luggage," Zexion finally said.

"I think we just let this guy do it," Axel said. He bent over and took a look at the buttons on B1050's side. It seemed simple enough to follow...

He pushed a series of buttons in sequence. B1050 shuddered, and said,  
"Please enter your flight number."

"It's not even _voice-sensitive_?" Zexion asked, clearly offended by the archaic piece of machinery.

Axel ignored the comment, and typed in '478' into the number pad on B1050's side. The LCD screen displayed the number. Axel touched the 'yes' button to confirm, and B1050 steered itself towards the left, where hundreds of other personal robots were waiting in line to get their baggage checked by basic service androids, whose faces were frozen in a permanent smile.

"Let's just get on our plane," Zexion said, "I hate this already."

"You hate everything," Axel said, following him as he headed further in the airport.

"I hate my clothes more."

Axel eyed Zexion's ensemble; jeans and a black t-shirt, and glasses with black frames.

"You look retro," he said.

"You look like a bum," Zexion retorted. Axel looked down at his ratty jeans, converse, and t-shirt with the words 'old school' written in binary code.

"Do not."

"Whatever."

They walked the rest of the way to security in silence, Axel observing the bustling crowd around them. Humans were so...something. Axel couldn't think of the right word, but he knew he was very, very different from them. He wondered, as he often did, if making an android that was identical to a human was even an advancement from what he and the rest of them were; they were already better than human—right?

"Hands up."

Axel pulled his attention away from a young human that was having a tantrum next to its mother, and saw a security bot brandishing a multi-detector at him. Axel put his hands up. The bot waved the detector over Axel's torso, reading the numbers as they flashed across the screen.

"You've got a lot of metal in you," it said.

"Motorbike accident," Axel replied, calling forth his fake background file, "they had to rebuild over half my body."

"That sounds painful," the bot said, "You've sill got enough organic matter in you to register as human, though."

"Yeah," Axel said, "Thankfully."

"You're clear to go, Mr. Hartworth. Have a safe flight."

"Thanks."

Axel moved along and rejoined with Zexion on the other side of the security stations, relieved that his scan hacking system was up to par; if the airports had actually upgraded every once in a while, he would have shown up as an android—who were strictly forbidden on passenger aircraft.

"This place is so archaic," Zexion said.

"Most airports are," Axel replied, "Not much in air flight has changed in the past fifty years."  
"I knew that," Zexion snapped, "We've both been given the same information about air flight, you know."

"It's called conversation," Axel said.

Zexion looked around for their terminal number.

"I really don't see the point of saying anything, if we both know it."

"That's what humans do, though," Axel said.

"Humans are redundant, then."

Axel shoved his hands into his pockets, and followed his now partner-in-crime.

"I suppose so..."

* * *

A/N: Woo hoo! Android organization members stealing android vocaloids from a KH-themed futuristic AU engineering company! The technical stuff is all made up, so if you don't understand, there's a good reason. lol.

You like?


	2. The Concert

A/N: Chapter two, here we go! Not quite as long as the last one, but only by two pages. Stopping points are never evenly spaced from each other, anyway.

Thank you to Shironami-Whitewave! You're awesome!

Chapter title: The Performance

* * *

Xehanort slapped his hand onto the palm scanner without even looking, and watched dully as the doors to the main entrance of ARC opened for him.

"Welcome," the automated voice said.

"'morning," Xehanort said, without thinking. He walked in, making his way through the bustling pristine main floor to get to the elevators in the back. It was only the image of the coffee-pot in the break room upstairs that kept him putting one foot in front of the other.

Despite Ansem telling him not to, Xehanort had pulled an all-nighter in an attempt to learn everything he needed to know today about the models closest to what this android was said to be, as well as make a very detailed outline for what needed to be done for the first few weeks at least, including plans of action for every different set of data Xehanort could think of that they might find, how to analyze it, and future applications they might need it for.

It was standard practice for a designer to make a beta of an android and take it to someone else, to see if they could replicate it. It was a check for both the people rebuilding the android and the ones who had made the original; if the original android and the copy were the same, that meant that the designing process was sound and could be used commercially. If not, it was back to the drawing board, where the errors in both models had to be sorted out.

He didn't know how much his outline would help, but at least he had thought about it...

"Good morning, Xehanort."

Xehanort suppressed a yawn, and waved in the direction of Ansem's desk. Then he let his shoulder bag fall into his chair, and shuffled off towards the break room.

"You got at least _some_ sleep, I hope?" Ansem asked.

Xehanort shook his head, and jabbed the button to start the automated coffee maker. Instantly, the mug he'd left at work yesterday popped out of the robot's machinery, and in less than a minute it was filled with fresh coffee. Xehanort chugged it in the same time it took to make it, shoved the cup back into the machine's holder, and jabbed the button again.

"How many cups do you plan on having?" Ansem asked, sounding alarmed.

"Three," Xehanort said, "Should keep me going 'till lunch."

He started chugging cup number two.

"You're not going to have heart failure before then?"

Xehanort swallowed, and shook his head.

"Nope," he said, "I'll just be awake."

He gave his supervisor a smile.

"I made an outline for the month."

"You predicted everything we might find and how to analyze it?" Ansem asked, his tone skeptical. Xehanort shook his head, swallowing the last of cup two, and shoved the mug into the machine for the third time.

"Not _every_thing—just the 44 most possible scenarios, based on her closest commercial model."

Ansem raised his eyebrows.

"Oh?"

Xehanort nodded.

"Uh-huh."

He started chugging cup number three.

Ansem shook his head.

"I guess should have expected as much."

He picked up his own cup of coffee, and sipped it lightly. When Xehanort was done, he put the cup in the machine for cleaning, and pulled the outline out of his pocket.

"Did you want to see it?"

Ansem eyed the messy wad of papers in Xehanort's hand.

"...I think I'll take your word for it."

* * *

It wasn't long after the coffee started kicking in that they were called downstairs by Mr. Meyers' assistant through the intercom.

"They're ready for us," he said, "We're on floor 50's conference hall."

"Ah," Ansem said, "The big room. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Dr. Ansem."

The intercom beeped, signaling the end of the message.

"Ansem's your last name?" Xehanort asked; he'd only heard people address him as Ansem, so he had assumed it was his supervisor's first name.

"I like it better," Ansem said, "And I don't like being called 'Doctor Ansem', either. It doesn't have a good ring to it."

"but—that's your title," Xehanort said, confused, "You earned that title."

"Do I call you Dr. Xehanort?"

"Well—no, but—Xehanort's my first name."

"Oh," Ansem said, "That's right, I remember now. There was something interesting about your last name. What was it again?"

"Falun."

Ansem frowned for a moment; it was a darkened expression, telling of deeper, heavier thoughts.

"Oh," he said again. He sounded confused.

"Is something wrong?" Xehanort asked.

Ansem's face cleared, and he shook his head.

"No,'" he said, "I was just thinking." He smiled—but it didn't seem sincere.

Nonetheless, Xehanort put his palm on the door lock, wondering what about his last name would cause such a reaction in Ansem....

* * *

The conference hall on floor 50 turned out to be a full-out auditorium, complete with acoustic enhancements and box seating on the side. It was the only room on that floor.

"Like I said," Ansem said, laughing at Xehanort as he walked in with his head tilted all the way back to stare at the vaulted ceiling, "we call it the big room."

"Dr. Ansem!"

Xehanort snapped his head back, and found himself very close Mr. Meyers' personal assistant. He stepped backwards immediately—but it didn't stop the assistant, whose name Xehanort didn't know yet, from giving him a strange look. The assistant cleared his throat, and turned to Ansem.

"They're going to let the android do a demonstration before we commence with analysis. For this room, I think the center seats about halfway back are said to be the best for sound quality."

"Thank you," Ansem said, "I'll take your advice. Xehanort?"

"Huh?"

"Are you going to sit in the middle, or somewhere else?"

"Oh," Xehanort said, tearing his eyes away from the lighting system, "Yeah."

"That wasn't really an answer."

"It wasn't?" Xehanort asked, confused again. He _thought _he'd been listening...

"...Let's sit with the others," Ansem said. He nodded to Mr. Meyers' assistant, "Excuse us."

The assistant stepped aside. Xehanort felt him staring as he followed Ansem to where the rest of the team was sitting. He didn't think much of it; it wasn't an uncommon phenomena, people staring at him...

He ended up sitting in between Ansem and Aeleus, another engineer in Ansem's team. He had a larger frame than Mr. Meyers, even, effectively making him look like a giant. Aeleus was also the most quiet out of the four of them, only talking when he had something meaningful to say—but never missing what was said by others. Xehanort found himself wishing for the millionth time that week that he could keep track of his surroundings like that...

"Can I have everyone's attention, please?"

Mr. Meyers' assistant was standing in front of the stage. He was speaking in his normal voice, which was carrying all the way back to all of them. He had been right about the acoustics, then.

"Now that everyone's here, we'll start the demonstration. As I'm sure you all know, this is the latest android presented by Cerion, which they have named Miku, after the original character. Dr. Hidaka and Dr. Sugiyama are here with us to answer any questions we might have, and to overview the analysis process."

He indicated two men sitting in the front row. Xehanort couldn't see them from where he was sitting—only their heads. One had gray hair, and the other black.

"The full name of the android is Hatsune Miku, which I've been told translates into English as 'First Futuresound'. The song we're about to hear was composed entirely by Miku, which she wrote to express her excitement about this project. Let's begin," Mr. Meyers' assistant said.

He sat down. As soon as he did the lights dimmed, and for an agonizing moment, everyone and everything went silent.

Then—there it was. Xehanort heard a voice clear and pure, singing foreign sounds in a volume that easily filled up the entire hall with seemingly little strain, or effort, from the singer herself. It just seemed to become loud enough to hear everything there was to hear. Electrical accompaniment accented the voice; base and cascades of synthesized sound swelled as soon as it started—

A spotlight turned on in time with the beat of the song, and illuminated a perfect rendition of the drawing Xehanort saw on the cover of Mr. Meyers' box yesterday. Long, aqua-green hair fell down to the android's knees, pulled to the sides in pigtails. She wore slim gray knee-high boots, a gray and black skirt that seemed to be emitting flashes of light at the moment, a tie to match her hair and a gray sleeveless top. Her forearms were covered in the same material her skirt seemed to be made out of; a flexible mesh of plastic and wires, processing information only revealed by flashes of light every other second. Xehanort recognized the material, but was amazed at the effect it gave now; she was sparkling.

Her face was the most amazing; she looked every part a japanese girl—even with the abnormal hair color, she would have passed for a human anywhere. Her movements were smooth, coordinated, and very, very real. She looked genuinely happy in that moment—happier than Xehanort had ever seen an android—ever.

"_Wow_," he whispered.

Next to him, Aeleus gave a nod in silent agreement.

There was heavy applauding when she finished; everyone gave her a standing ovation, and there were some whoops and cheers from the maintenance crew that had been chosen to work on Miku alongside Ansem's engineering team. Miku smiled, waving to everyone. She really looked genuinely happy...Xehanort caught himself staring even after she had gotten off-stage, amazed at how sincere her expressions seemed to be...

"Impressed?"

Xehanort jumped, and turned to see Ansem giving him an amused look.

"Yeah," he said, looking back, "She looks like she's feeling..._feelings_..."

Ansem laughed.

"Come," he said, "It's time to meet the engineers."

"Oh—right..."

Xehanort followed Ansem out of the auditorium again; Mr. Meyers' assistant had announced that they were now going to another conference room for coffee, after which Ansem's team would be left to prepare for tomorrow's data collection session.

Aeleus, Even, Ienzo and Arlene dismissed themselves after the concert to get back to work, and Xehanort wanted desperately to go with them—but he knew that he couldn't. Being the head of the data collection project meant that he was the face of the project; he was the one responsible for giving his team's work a good reputation.

It was more than a little scary, Xehanort had decided last night. Somewhere between two and three in the morning, it had hit him that his being appointed to look over this project was more of a test than a compliment. He was now in a position where, if one thing went wrong, he would be fired in no time. Which made him wonder if that's why he was picked in the first place; the other team members had been with ARC in that very lab for ages—their whole careers. So instead of sacrificing one of the old people, they put the new guy on the chopping block to take the heat. It made more sense than just having faith in a guy with a lot of accomplishments to his name, anyway.

Unfortunately, it also made Xehanort feel like hiding in a corner. Or under his desk. Either one would work, really...

"Nice to meet you," he forced himself to say instead, when Dr. Hidaka and Dr. Sugiyama reached out to shake his hand in turn (Dr. Hidaka was the gray-haired one). They bowed and smiled, looking him over somewhat hesitantly, their eyes lingering on his. Xehanort decided to head off the obvious and tell them about why he looked so strange; it wasn't every day one ran into a young man with stark white hair and orange eyes.

"I was electrocuted by lightning when I was 12," he explained, "It damaged my nervous system and made my hair go white. They were able to fix me so I was fully functional again, but I can't get my eye color changed back, since my eyes already have too much neural damage."

At this the japanese engineers nodded, and they seemed a little more comfortable around Xehanort after that. Ansem did most of the talking from then on; he had a lot more experience with this small talk stuff than Xehanort did, that was for sure...

It was revealed that Dr. Hidaka was the engineering designer for Miku, as well as the other models of the same series—all of which were apparently made in the likeness of other characters from that vocaloid program. Dr. Sugiyama was the chief engineer; he had the same position that Ansem did. Dr. Hidaka seemed to be the more cheerful of the two. Dr. Sugiyama was more reserved—kind of like Aeleus, but more sinister. And not as big.

When coffee was finally over, the japanese engineers went back to their hotel. Miku was taken to the observation room by the engineering crew, where they were to brief her on how things would go, after which they would give her a tour of the facilities she would be staying in for the next month. Ansem and Xehanort made their way back to their desks, where they would spend the rest of the day getting prepared for tomorrow.

"Well," Ansem said, when they were alone in the elevator, "that went well. They seem impressed by you."

"Really?" Xehanort asked. His mind was focused solely on lunch, at the moment; all that coffee was making him really hungry...

"I think so," Ansem continued, "They asked me about you when you were in the bathroom."

Thoughts of eating flew out his head.

"..._Really_?"

"Yes," Ansem laughed, "I told them about your publications. I wouldn't be surprised if they had read all of them by tomorrow morning."

Xehanort's stomach clenched. He was used to people looking up the papers he'd published on his research during graduate school, but it didn't exactly relate to what he was doing now...what would they think of it?

"Oh."

"By the way, I didn't know you were electrocuted as a child," Ansem continued, his tone becoming less lighthearted and more serious.

"Yeah," Xehanort said, "my memory was completely wiped, and everything."

"Really?"

Xehanort nodded again. He didn't talk about it that much; it wasn't a very happy subject...

"I was just alive enough that they could save me," he said, "my parents died the same night—they got it worse than I did."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Well," Xehanort said, "it's kind of a blessing in disguise. On one hand, I lost all memories of my parents and my life before then, but on the other hand, the doctors think that the reason why I'm so good at engineering and math is because the electricity rearranged my brain."

"Ah," Ansem said, raising his eyebrows. "Interesting..."

Xehanort didn't say anything for the rest of the elevator ride. He almost never talked about his beginnings, although they weren't unknown to the researchers who worked in the same area as him. So why did he just rattle it off now like it was nothing?

Xehanort dismissed the question; it was probably just his nerves and lack of sleep getting to him. That, and Ansem was very easy to talk to.

* * *

"Okay, what now?"

"I thought you read the card," Zexion replied, "You had three hours' worth of flight to do so."

They were standing in the Los Angeles International airport, amidst a steady flow of humans rushing outside to get picked up by personal hover cars or taxi cabs.

"Well yeah," Axel said, flashing his partner a grin, "but you've been summarizing it all so well."

Zexion's eyes narrowed.

"You haven't read a single file on there besides your background, have you?"

"I did too!" Axel defended, crossing his arms, "We're supposed to go to Silicon Valley. That wasn't on my background file—"

"What city is the name Silicon Valley _referring _to?"

"....Hold on..."

"San Jose," Zexion snapped, "We've got to get to northern California as soon as possible."

"Oh," Axel said. He stopped mentally scanning the files, and looked down at Zexion.

"We should rent a hover car, then."

Zexion turned abruptly, and started walking.

"That's the smartest thing I've heard you say since we left," he said.

"That's not very nice," Axel said, following after him.

"It wasn't supposed to be."

Another B1050 spluttered and huffed behind Axel, obviously not happy with the weight of their luggage. Taking different sets of clothes was a cumbersome thing....

"So where's the rental place?" Axel asked.

"At the end of this terminal," Zexion replied, "to my understanding of the layout, there's a desk over here."

Axel slowed his pace a little and looked behind him. He didn't know how far ahead he could go before the robot lost the signal from the sensor Axel had been carrying since they'd rented it, but it the B1050 looked like it was already struggling enough as it was—kind of like a tired dog dragging itself after its owner.

This gave Axel an idea.

"Come on, buddy," he said, turning around and walking backwards in front of it. He slapped his hands on his legs, "Keep going! We're almost there!"

"Axel," Zexion sighed, "That robot can't even sense you're talking. Why are you trying to talk to it when you know it can't hear you?"

"I think it's moving faster, actually—"

"You are easily fooled, then."

Axel didn't respond, and kept walking backwards. He kept his vision on the robot, relying on his sound sensors to create a real-time virtual image of what was going on behind him, so he could navigate through the crowd without bumping into anyone. He heard some laughing, and eyes lingered on him and the robot for a few milliseconds before continuing on their way. Axel wondered what they were thinking about...did he look too out of place, doing this?

Zexion stopped.

"Over there," he said. Axel fluidly swiveled around and came to a stop next to Zexion, ending up face-to-face with a blond service android. A male, this time.

"Yo," he said, "We need a car."

After they had rented, paid for, and loaded the trunk of a decent rental, they followed the signs out of the airport and onto I-5 northbound. Axel was at the wheel, finally scanning through the files on Xemnas' information disk in his mind, while he kept his eyes on the road. Zexion was looking up apartments within commuting distance from ARC headquarters on a floating screen that was projecting from the hover car's dashboard.

"You _are_ keeping an eye on the road with some kind of device, right?" Zexion asked, sounding annoyed as he moved windows aside with a touch of his fingers.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm paying attention,"Axel said, slumping a little more in his seat. He put a finger on the bottom of the steering wheel, watching the traffic as other cars hummed below and next to him. He was cruising on the top right lane in the standard twelve stacked lanes that all freeways had, built over the archaic roads that were originally laid down for gas-powered cars. The top right was the fastest of the three fast lanes. It was also the most scenic; the only thing between them and the sky was the guard fence, a series of electric beams set on top of the retaining walls that would completely deactivate a civilian hover car if it passed through.

"These things sure are slow, though."

"If we had anything faster, it would raise suspicion. Staying as human-like as possible is key."

"Too bad ARC's security systems are sensitive to that."

"They have to be, seeing as they are one of the leading forces in new technology now. They're afraid of what might happen."

Axel smirked.

"Like what we're going to do?"

"What we're going to do is actually fixable," Zexion replied, "They're bound to have blueprints of this model. Compared to something like assassination, I would think this is tame. We're not aiming to do irreparable damage, we're merely borrowing ideas."

Axel let out a short laugh.

"You know we're going to end up killing people. Someone's going to get in the way and get sliced in half, or something."

"_I_ never have a problem with that kind of thing," Zexion said, "You're the one that rushes into things and doesn't pay attention. Whatever it is in your personality programming that tells you to be brash is really quite annoying."

Axel shrugged.

"When it's time to fight, it's time to fight. Simple."

"I imagine that's why you were asked to come, though."

Axel took his eyes off the road and looked at Zexion. He was scanning the computer screen, a bored expression on his face.

"Huh?"

Zexion looked over at Axel.

"Your ability to act instantaneously in a serious situation, as well as the ability to think on your feet in a consistently successful manner overrides the nature of your mistakes. Also, you are the best at mimicking human interaction in a way that is most convincing to humans themselves. This is why I think you were assigned to this task."

Axel raised his eyebrows, and looked back at the road.

"Wow. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was a compliment."

"You do know better," Zexion replied, "I am merely explaining my logic to you. Giving you a compliment is not in my interest, at the moment."

Axel nodded.

"Fair enough. How long is it to San Jose, anyway?"

"A few hours, at least. It depends on traffic."

"_Man_..."

"Just keep your hands on the wheel. I'd like to get there with all my skin still attached to me, thank you."

"Do you realize how hard it would be for me to crash this thing—"

"Shut up."

"Fine, geez..."

They sat in silence for a good forty minutes, after that. Axel stared at the sky above them more than the road ahead of him; between the force fields keeping them boxed into their lane and the cruise control setting Axel had the car on, it would take nothing short of an explosion to send them off the road—if Axel didn't react to it in time. Humans couldn't do that, could they? Sense things before they happened...it was just a matter of paying attention to feedback for them, since most of the world they lived in was powered by electronics of some kind, but humans didn't have that kind of wiring, did they? So did that mean a perfect android wouldn't have it, either? That would suck...

"We're going to get off the first exit for San Jose that we see," Zexion said, "There's an apartment complex not far from the freeway that will serve our purposes best. The exit will be on the right."

"Just tell me when to start moving over. I'm too lazy to look."

"Fine," Zexion said.

And with that, they fell back into silence.

* * *

A/N:Don't ask me why the vocaloids are japanese and the Kingdom Hearts characters are american. I really can't tell you.

I blame the weird brainchild, again.

Working on chapter three now! :D


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